


Detention Buddies

by fjs



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Human AU, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, M/M, homophobic parents, i promise it’s not abandoned my guys, kam is my entire life guys
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-07-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:21:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23626831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fjs/pseuds/fjs
Summary: Keefe has gotten detention within the first three days of school; an achievement which he would normally be proud of, if it weren’t for the kid sitting in the back of the room when he walked in.
Relationships: Keefe Sencen/Tam Song, minor Marella Redek/Linh Song
Comments: 14
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter One

It’s the third day of sophomore year, and Keefe has detention. He waves goodbye to his best friend, Sophie, as she boards the bus. Then, as the bus pulls out of the parking lot, he pivots on his heel and walks to detention.

Keefe was absolutely sure that the trick he’d pulled to land himself in detention would go down in school history, and the thought of becoming an urban legend would be enough to keep him entertained throughout the boredom of the empty desks surrounding him.

His arms are folded confidently as he walks into the classroom and turns towards the desks. He scans the desktops for a moment, feigning consideration, when suddenly his eyes stop. At the far right desk in the second-to-last row sits a black-haired boy about his age. Keefe froze. Who does this kid think he is? He’s sitting there like it’s nothing, like this isn’t even an accomplishment. Keefe is disgusted, to say the least. 

He slowly walks to the seat next to the other boy’s, his smirk fading. He slides into the seat and watches the teacher sitting in the front of the room. She seems to be doing something on her computer. Keefe leans over to the desk next to him. “Hey,” he whispers.  
“What?”  
“So, uh, what’d you do to get detention?”  
“Why do you care?”  
“I’m just curious, okay?”  
“Fine. I graffitied a bathroom stall, okay?”  
Keefe is shocked. Stall graffiti? Really? This guy was pathetic.  
“Well, what’d you write?”  
The black-haired boy chuckles. “Oh, it was just the word fuck surrounded by a bunch of tiny hearts and sparkles.”  
Keefe snorts. It really isn’t that funny, but the fact that this kid felt like that was the best thing to write on a bathroom wall was just hilarious.  
The black-haired boy looks at Keefe. “So, what did you do?”  
Keefe grins.  
“Oh, you know, nothing much. It was pretty simple, honestly. All I did was fly a drone into the conference room in the middle of a meeting.”  
The dark-haired boy lets out one of those laughs that’s really more of a puff of air. “Was it recording?”  
“Oh, no. THAT would’ve gotten me suspended, and I don’t need to spend any more time at home than I already do.”  
“I feel that.”  
Keefe reaches out his hand. “My name’s Keefe, by the way.”  
The dark-haired boy reaches out and shakes Keefe’s hand. “Tam.”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOW! I DID AN UPDATE! YAY!!! Anyways, how we doin' kam nation
> 
> On an unrelated note, I wrote this while in the 2b2t que

Keefe's walk home was a bit better than normal, considering he at least had something to think about this time. Normally he just had the scenery around him to stare at, and he'd pretty much memorized every last leaf. But today he thought about the other kid in the detention room instead of the typical trees surrounding his walk home. About his weird-ass hair and how his bangs were weird as shit. Keefe snorted and smirked. He glanced up and realized that he was already at his house. He breathed a sigh of relief once he realized that neither of his parent's cars were in the driveway. He walked up to his door and quickly unlocked it. Promptly dropping his backpack and kicking off his shoes by the door. He pulled his homework out of his bag and headed upstairs. He sat down at his desk and started filling out his science sheet. He heard the sound of the front door opening and heard his heart rate quickly elevate. He narrowed in his focus on the footsteps. "fuck," he whispered. It was his dad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Angst next time because I love to cause pain!


	3. Chapter Three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> angst time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you mean i’m projecting? i’m not projecting!

Keefe tensed up the moment that he recognized the footsteps. He hurriedly did his math work, hoping that maybe, if he got more done, his dad wouldn’t notice all of the work that he had missed due to being in detention and not doing his homework. He heard his dad climbing the stairs and took a deep breath. He heard his doorknob turning and pretending that he was focusing. The door opened. Keefe pretended not to notice, hoping that his dad would see him working and walk away.

That didn’t happen.

“You’ve been home for three hours. How much work have you gotten done?”

Keefe jumped.

“Well, uh... i got...” he takes a quick moment to think of an answer that’s both believable and impressive. But that’s impossible. It’s impossible to impress his dad, with his impossible standards. Keefe is passing every class with flying colors; so what if he wants to have a little fun every once in a while? Is that such a problem? He wonders-

“Keefe?”

He’s pulled back to reality.

“Keefe, how much work have you gotten done?”

“Uh, about five pages?”

His dad’s eyes narrow.

“Five pages? You’ve been home for three _hours_.”

“Yep! Uh, they were kinda hard...” His dad walks up to him and snatched the papers from his desk.

“This is _geometry_. What exactly is _hard_ about geometry?!”

”Uh, well, y’know... curvatures, and...” Keefe trails off. 

“You’re grounded.”

”What?! Why?!”

”Because you don’t care about your work! Listen, once you start to pay attention in school-“

”Oh, yeah, because I _obviously_ don’t pay ANY attention! I mean, it’s not like i’m acing my classes or anything! No, just because of one off day, I immediately fail at everything!”

Oh no.

Keefe watches his dad’s nostrils flare as his glare increases. He storms out and slams the door behind him, the wind created by his speed walking making his business suit almost flutter. 

This isn’t gonna end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay maybe i’m projecting


	4. chapter four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> pov switch because fuck you ❤️❤️❤️

Tam absentmindedly doodles in the corner of his note sheet as his sister plays ukulele in on the other side of the room. He looks back down at his work and quickly finishes it up, stuffing it messily into his backpack. 

For whatever reason, he can’t stop thinking about the kid from earlier. Something about the mischievous way his eyes glistened when he talked about the stunt he pulled just managed to worm its way into Tam’s brain. 

He closes his eyes and shakes his head, quickly finding something else to focus on. He turns to Linh, who’s sitting on a fluffy purple beanbag chair and playing ukulele.

Of course, she’s singing a love song, because this shit really _won’t_ leave him alone. He walks over and bellyflops into his bed, buries his face in his pillow, and screams.


End file.
